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What's Happening from Environmental Building News

July 1, 2007

CSI Introduces GreenFormat

At its annual convention in Baltimore, Maryland, in June 2007, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) announced its forthcoming GreenFormat product data-reporting tool. GreenFormat is a Web-based questionnaire and product listing service that manufacturers can use to report on environmental aspects of their products. BuildingGreen, Inc., (publisher of Environmental Building News) is providing technical support to CSI on the tool and will be drawing from GreenFormat data to enhance its GreenSpec Directory. McGraw-Hill Construction will also be using the tool within its online Sweets directory.

Over the past several years, the volunteer Sustainable Facilities Task Team within CSI developed the GreenFormat questionnaire, which is now being customized for key product types and will soon be available for beta-testing by interested manufacturers. Eventually, CSI hopes to have an extensive database of products, searchable by a wide range of environmental performance parameters. Manufacturers will be charged a listing fee to participate, but there will be no fee for searching and viewing the data. “CSI is excited about bringing together our expertise in the structuring of information for documenting building requirements with BuildingGreen’s expertise in establishing requirements for environmental performance to bring GreenFormat to the construction industry,” said CSI’s Roger Grant. Additionally, CSI’s newly updated PageFormat and SectionFormat guidelines for structuring specifications have been modified to specifically accommodate green considerations.

– Nadav Malin

For more information:

Roger Grant
Director of Technical Services and Development
Construction Specifications Institute
Alexandria, Virginia
703-706-4740
www.greenformat.com

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